London Location question
 

I will be traveling with my family in June to Germany with a one day stopover in London. We will arrive between 8 am and 1 pm into LHR (we are flying standby) on a Saturday and will leave out of LHR about 3pm the next day for Berlin. We have done many of the big tourist attractions before, so we are looking for some somewhat easy, low-key activities for Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Possible considerations are Churchill's War Rooms, Harrod's, and Borough Market.

My question: would the Novotel London City South hotel be a good location? I'm looking for something that has close access to the train to / from LHR as well as something with easy access to the sites above. We obviously don't have a lot of time, so I want somewhere that allows efficient travel. We will be traveling with my parents who are 75. They get around just fine, but I want to make travel easier rather than harder for them/us.

I like the Novotel prices. If you have other suggestions, I'd love any help. Thank you!

>>easy, low-key activities for Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Possible considerations are Churchill's War Rooms, Harrod's, and Borough Market.<<

None of those are at all 'low key'. Borough Market will be completely slammed on Saturday and is closed on Sunday. Harrods will be slammed both days. The Cabinet War Rooms are very crowded on weekends -- and it would be a schlepp to squeeze them in on Sunday anyway. They open @ 9:30 and take at least 90 mins to 2 hours. Going back to your hotel to get your bags, the hour out to the airport and 2 hours advance check in you'd have to leave the War Rooms by 11:30 at the very latest for a 3PM flight.

Are there any other sites that might interest you????

>>I'm looking for something that has close access to the train to / from LHR <<

The only area with direct rail access to LHR is Paddington. For the best Underground access you'd want to be on the Piccadilly Tube line (South Kensington, Covent Garden, Russell Square, etc) . The Novotel London City South is near neither and is not at all convenient to LHR.

I would stay near Paddington, as it's the easiest and fastest (though not cheapest) way to get to LHR.
Or stay somewhere in West London, like Kensington, and book a car service to Heathrow. On a Sunday there will not be too much traffic, and if you're somewhere like Gloucester Road, it's an easy trip to LHR from there. A car service will be cheaper than Heathrow Express if there are 4 of you (or more).

You want to get to LHR at least 1,5 hours in advance if you have handluggage only; it's a large airport to get through.

Most stores don't open until 11.30 am on a Sunday, so do those on Saturday.